Balregan Castle — Balregan

The following description is derived from both the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986) and the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 17 July 2007 Almost square in plan, originally with four projecting corner-towers, it is quite squat-looking, being only two storey's high. It is built of rubble, greywacke and limestone blocks roughly coursed, and has little dressed stone other than in the entranceway at the base of the SE angle-tower. The tower at the NE has collapsed, as has most of the E wall. Access to the barrel- vaulted ground-floor area is gained through doorways in the SE angle-tower, and to the first-floor level by a mural stairwell from a door in the S wall. The barrel vault, which is on an E-W axis is large and well preserved except where the E gable has collapsed. A doorway, now partially blocked, leads from the SE angle-tower into the barrel-vaulted area. It is 0.73m wide, is constructed with limestone blocks and has a large limestone slab lintel. Midway along the S wall of the barrel-vaulted area are the remains of a blocked-up doorway (H c. 2.2m, Wth c. 1.2m) that gave access to the mural staircase which runs straight up to the tower in the SW angle, where there are the remains of one jamb of an ope in the W wall, and then turns northwards into the main first-floor level. The N wall of the ground floor has two opes, both of which are double-splayed, one set on each side of a possible fireplace. Both opes are blocked from the outside. The outside doorway of the SE tower is constructed of hard grey sandstone blocks, seventeen in number, with a central keystone. The base of the E jamb is splayed inwards, effectively narrowing the lower portion of the entrance. The doorway leads into a small sub-rectangular antechamber (1.3m by 2.46m) with beehive corbelled roof, which in turn leads into the barrel-vaulted area through a short passage. The tower projects by 0.6m to 0.65m from the wall faces and has a corbelled roof built with limestone. It was never built higher than the first-floor level, unlike the NW tower which had two storeys above the ground-floor level. The NW tower, which projects out by 1.12m from the N and W walls, has a large amount of small rubble stone in its construction. There is no access to its ground floor level other than from the first floor, where there is clear evidence for a spiral staircase now almost completely destroyed. It would appear that there must have been a trapdoor in the floor to give access to this part of the stairwell. The tower has a circular interior c. 1.9m in diameter. There is no means of lighting in the lower part of the tower, while the two upper storeys have simple rectangular slits with large limestone jambs and lintels. The roofs over the first- and second- floor levels of the tower are constructed in a corbelled manner with large stone slabs. The doorway into the tower at the first-floor level has one remaining jamb, of punch-dressed limestone. There is no obvious access to the second-floor level in this tower since there is no internal stairwell, but broken masonry to the E of the doorway may indicate that there were steps originally in this area. The second-floor level of the tower has a doorway which faces E and has a large stone slab lintel. There is no evidence for stairs within the tower between first- and second-floor level or for a wall-walk, so access to the second floor must have been from a now missing staircase which would have been situated close to the tower entrance. Just to the E of the first-floor entrance to the tower there is a corbelled rectangular opening (Wth 0.6m, H 0.3m), but its function is not known. The SW tower, which carried the top part of the mural staircase, has no opes at the lower level and does not appear to have ever been open at the ground floor. The outer face of the N wall of the tower, that is the NW angle, is splayed giving an obtuse rather than a right-angled return. This appears to have been done to accommodate the top of the mural stairwell which returns at this point onto the first-floor level. On the outside of the W wall between the S wall and the NW tower there are five corbels at the first-floor level; these project by c. 0.15m and support large horizontally-laid limestone slabs which carry a widening of the wall. This method of giving extra width to a wall is normally done to accommodate a mural passage or wall-walk, but in this case there are no such features. There is a large splayed window (max. Wth 1.16m, H c. 1.7m) in the W wall at first-floor level. Also at first-floor level the NW tower has the remains of two splayed loops, while there is one in the S wall of the SE tower and a well preserved example where the W wall joins the NW tower. There is no evidence of the method or type of roofing used, nor is there any evidence of a wall-walk. Wright (1758, bk III, pl. 1; bk II, pl. XXI) illustrates the tower house with the remains of a bawn wall and gateway. There are now no surface remains of this feature. (Wright 1758, bk II, 8, pls XXI, XXII; CLAJ 1908, 35)